Friendship is Herecy
by TheThreeStorytellers
Summary: After a failed slipspace jump to Delta Halo, High Charity crashes in the magical land of Equestria, filled with colorful talking Ponies. A squad of Sangheili, Unggoy and Kig-Yar is sent to investigate this strange new world. Will peace persist between the 2 forces, or will the Covenant start another holy war?
1. Chapter 1: The Second Holy Ring

Chapter 1: The Second Holy Ring

Covenant Holy City High Charity, 9th Age of Reclamation, (October 2552, Human Calendar)

The remains of the fractured Halo Ring formerly known as Installation 04 silently drifted through space over the gas giant known as Threshold. Near the burning remains of the ancient Forerunner ring was a fleet of Covenant Ships that all surrounded a giant mobile planetoid station, High Charity, the Covenant Holy City. The inhabitants of giant mushroom shaped mobile city were all mourning over the loss of the sacred ring which they believe would bring them salvation. A small fleet of Phantoms flew towards the city, exiting the gas giant Threshold's atmosphere. Onboard these Phantoms were Tartarus, Rtas Vadamee, Thel Vadamee, and various other Covenant Special Forces who were returning from their mission to cleanse the heretics present at a gas mine…

Deep within High Charity, inside the Prophet Hierarchs

private quarters sat the prophets Truth and Mercy in their gravity thrones, staring at an image of fractured Halo Ring.

"It truly is a pity that the sacred ring was destroyed by the demon" Mercy said in his raspy elderly voice.

"Indeed brother. But we must put aside our sorrow to face the future of the Covenant. One that involved the total annihilation of the Humans for that they have done."

The 2 sat in silence for a moment before the door behind them opened with a chime. The 2 turned to see they Chief Executor and Captain of the Jiralhanae, Tartarus walk into the room, carrying a silver sphere with a bright blue light under his arm, and the newly elected Arbiter Thel Vadamee, followed by 2 walked over to Mercy and Truth, where they kneeled in front of them on the floor.

"Noble Prophets of Truth and Mercy, the heretic leader has been silenced." The Arbiter said

Truth nodded

"You have done well Arbiter, you may retire to your quarters for the evening."

"Thank you noble hierarchs" the Arbiter replied, standing and walking out of the room.

Tartarus looked up and presented 343 Guilty Spark to them.

"This holy artifact was retrieved from the heretics."

Truth and Mercy looked pleased.

"An oracle, surely left by no one other than the gods themselves!" Mercy exclaimed

"Excellent Chieftain. You have served us well. Place him in the constraint field, we wish to speak with him"

Tartarus nodded, walking over to a small pedestal in the center of the room. He placed Spark in the center, who floated up above it as the field activated, locking him in place floating in the air.

"Thank you Tartarus. You may go no."

Tartarus grunted to his brutes and they followed him as they left.

"You may leave as well guards." Truth added, as the 2 Sangheili Honorguards followed them out of the room, leaving Truth and Mercy alone with Spark.

The 2 brothers floated in the chairs over to the small glowing ball.

"Tell me Oracle, what is your name?"

"Greetings, I am 343 Guilty Spark, Monitor of Installation 04. Or at least I was until it was destroyed, by a reclaimer."

"Fascinating Oracle! Is there anywhere else we may find of the these holy rings?"

"I'm sorry, but my creators concealed my knowledge of the other installations locations from me, in case I was ever captured by the Flood."

"Then that is all for now Oracle" Truth replied, as there was a beeping sound across the room from a console.

Truth floated over and examined it.

They were receiving a transmission from the carrier Solemn Penace, which their brother, the Prophet of Regret was currently on board.

"It is from our foolish brother."

"What does he want?" Mercy asked

Truth hit play, and the display showed the transmission.

"Brothers, I am sorry for my premature arrival and attack on the Planet known as Earth, but you must understand that no Human presence was foretold. I only wanted to uncover the relic so our transcendance could be quickened-"

Truth paused the message.

"Now he apologizes for his rash behavior? His actions led to a total embarrassment of our forces!"

"It would seem so brother." Truth replied "what shall we do with him?"

Mercy rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought.

"This calls for a council meeting, and we will decide his fate together."

"There is more to his apology." Truth said, hitting the play button

"-However, I must report my discovery. After our hurried withdraw from Earth, we went into slipspace, and discovered a second holy ring! I plan to light the ring as soon as I am able."

"By the gods!" Mercy exclaimed "salvation is assured!"

"We must journey to the sacred ring at once. Prepare High Charity for slipspace departure immediately!"

Truth turned to 343 Guilty Spark again

"Oracle, how can we unlock the holy ring and begin the great journey?"

"The Installation can only be activated by this object" Spark said, projecting an image of the Index "Known as the Index, which can be found at a structure known as a library. However, I regret to inform you only reclaimers can insert the Index into the control console."

Truth nodded and turned to Mercy

"We must journey to the sacred ring at once. Prepare High Charity for slipspace departure immediately!"

A few hours hours later, the Council Meeting was held, and it was ultimately decided that Regret would be spared from public shaming, thanks only to the Prophet of Mercy and the High Council. Outside of High Charity in space,various slipspace portals opened, and various Covenant Ships flew through them. Then, a very large slipspace portal opened above High Charity, which headed through it, before all of them closed, leaving the Souell system desolate with no sign if life, as the remains of Installation 04 drifted through space…


	2. Chapter 2: Anomaly

Chapter 2: Anomaly

In High Charity's engine room, various Unggoy and Sangheili worked at consoles, inputting the coordinates in the slipspace drive that they had just received from the Hierarchs. 2 Unggoy stood over near a console, playing Hunting Rock together.

There was a squishing sound as a rock thrown by one of the Unggoy crushed a scrub grub.

"Ha! Thats 4 points against your 2!"

"No fair, your rock is bigger!"

"Cry me a river Zapaw, you just making up excuse for losing!"

"Fine, give me your rock!"

"No!"

The 2 grunts began to scuffle, before the rock was suddenly launched across the room, hitting a console button right as the Sangheili initiated the slipspace jump.

"YOU FOOLS!" The Sangheili shouted "YOU'VE MESSED UP THE INPUT COORDINATES!"

Suddenly the sound of various alarms filled the room, and warnings flashed across the screens in covenant languages reading

"ALERT: SLIPSPACE ANOMALY/ERROR DETECTED"

The Sangheili growled and grabbed both Unggoy by their small necks and held them in the air

"YOU IDIOTS! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!"

The grunts choked and gagged, unable to breathe.

"I'm… sorry" the one coughed, before the Sangheili threw them against the wall and growled.

There was a sudden rumble as High Charity exited slipspace, along with various explosions and sparks, and all of the rooms inhabitants were thrown across the room.

All throughout High Charity, various things shook and

collapsed. Within the Prophet Hierarchs private quarters, the Honor Guards tumbled over, and Truth fell from his Gravity Throne as various alarms sounded and the lights flickered.

"What in the name of the Forerunners is going on!?" Mercy exclaimed.

Truth picked himself up, his thin frail legs struggling in the higher gravity as he climbed back in his chair.

Truth slammed his fist against a button and the display changed to show a diagram of High Charity. The entire lower shaft of the city which contained various shipyards and docking areas had been utterly crushed and torn beyond recognition, and various cracks were visible across High Charity's upper dome, with some of the plating missing entirely. The shielding systems were down, along with various power and engine systems. Several areas of the stations structural base were compromised, and various collapses within the city had occurred, and some flooding had occured.

"By the gods!" Truth exclaimed "our holy city is ruined!"

"How did his happen?!" Mercy shouted "have we crashed into the sacred ring?!"

Truth pressed various other buttons and the display revealed that the station had encountered a major slipspace anomaly, and had emerged partially embedded in an unknown planet's crust.

Truth hovered over to his guards angrily

"Bring me the slipspace drive overseer and those responsible Immediately!"

It was another busy day in Equestria for Twilight Sparkle and the Apple family. The Sisterhooves Social was in a few days, and the Apple family had enlisted Twilight and Spike to help make sure that everything was in order for the obstacle course race finale. The 2 were over at Sweet Apple Acres overseeing the race.

Twilight read off the list of things Applejack had needed, while Spike stood nearby with a checklist.

"Is the… mud trench ready?"

Spike poked it

"Yep"

She checked it off

"Basket Hurdles?"

"Yep"

She checked that off as well.

"Crate climb?"

"Uh huh"

She checked that off.

"Pie eating station?"

"Looks all set… they're still making the 50+ apple pies we need."

"I'll just take that as a yes, how about the hay bale pushing section?"

"Yes…"

The 2 continued in, marking off the various items and events.

"Looks like that's all she wrote, let's get this list to Applejack."

The 2 walked over to the farmhouse and stepped inside. The kitchen smelled of Apple Pies and other Apple-based products, which Granny Smith and Applejack were preparing for the event.

"Looks like everything is all set Applejack." Twilight said

"Thanks Twi, sorry to bother yah today, yah probably have a buncha other stuff to do."

"Oh, it's no problem Applejack, I always enjoy helping a friend."

"Oh, well, thanks anyways. Yah just helped save us a lot a time by doing that. Here, have a pie for your troubles"

Applejack handed the pie to Spike for him to carry, and licked his chops.

"Thank you, we'll be heading home now."

"Alright, see you around, take care!"

The 2 stepped out and began the walk back to Ponyville as the day neared a close.

Not much was said on the way back, and the 2 stepped inside the Castle of Friendship. Spike sighed and slipped into a chair, grabbing a comic book, and Twilight grabbing a novel, both beginning to read by candlelight as the sun set.

The 2 remained there reading for hours, before a clock's sounding of 10 o'clock got their attention.

"Ah! I've lost track of time again! Come on Spike, we need to eat dinner at get to bed!"

The 2 dropped their books and sprinted downstairs and began making dinner.

They were in the middle of deciding what they should have when a massive earthquake suddenly shook all of Ponyville.

"GET DOWN!" Twilight yelled as the teleported herself, Spike and Owlowiscious outside.

The rumbling stopped after a few moments, but no major damage occured. Various lights in the surrounding houses came on as ponies were awoken in their sleep, and began to walk outside, many fillies and colts clutching their parents in fear, as they gathered outfront of the Castle of Friendship.

"What happened?" One pony asked

"I'm scared mommy!"

"What was with the shaking?

Twilight raised her hand, signalling for all of them to be silent.

"Everypony remain calm, it was just a simple earthquake, I'm sure we are safe. You may return to your homes." She reassured them as best as she could.

Most of Ponyville's residents were pleased with this answer and returned home.

Twilight, Spike and Owlowiscious headed back inside, their minds no longer on dinner, with the Owl flying off to his previous perch.

"What do you think that was?"

"I have no idea Spike, but whatever it was, it was caused by something big. We need to write a letter to Princess Celestia immediately!"

They darted upstair, Spike grabbing a quill and piece of parchment.

"Alright, shoot." He said

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Ponyville just experienced a massive Earthquake, and I felt that it was important to notify you. There doesn't seem to be any major damage or injuries, but I will keep you updated.

You Faithful Student

Princess Twilight Sparkle"

Spike began to scribble down the letter, as Twilight began rubbing her chin with her hoof.

"What could have possibly caused such a large earthquake? There hasn't been a natural Earthquake in Ponyville for decades!" She said, pulling down various books from their shelves and scanning through them.

"I don't know Twilight, maybe something from space crashed! Like a meteor!"

"No, that can't be, Luna would have seen it and prevented it from landing. You've been reading those alien comics again haven't you?"

"No! ...yes…" he said showing her the cover of the comic he'd been reading, 'The Aliens from the Horsehead Nebula'.

"Spike I need you to be serious. Is the letter ready yet?"

"Okay okay…" he said, slipping the seal on it "yeah it's ready"

"Send it, then we can do something about our dinner situation."

Spike breathed in and shot fire from his mouth, sending the letter…


	3. Chapter 3: Crashed

Chapter 3: Crashed

The doors to the hierarchs private quarters opened and in walked 2 Honor Guards, ushering a Sangheili in Binders, followed by 2 Unggoy.

The 3 were pushed to the floor in front of Truth and Mercy.

"Hierarchs, these are the engine operator's you asked to see"

There was silence for a moment

"What you have allowed to happen is entirely unacceptable, Zealot. You allowed our Holy City to crash into an unknown planet, and have destroyed much Covenant property, and killed many!"

"Yes noble prophets, I claim total responsibility for this action, and accept whatever punishment is to be enacted upon me. What is your name?"

"Zealot N'thiko 'Sattinee-"

"Not anymore." Truth interrupted "You are now Ultra N'thiko 'Sattinee"

The elite closed his eyes and hung his head, visibly disappointed with his demotion. To be demoted was one of the biggest disgraces a Sangheili warrior could face, almost worse than death itself.

Truth rubbed his chin

Mercy entered the conversation

"Were it not for your rank, and past service, we would have you and your subordinates executed for this failure! But, we have a better idea."

Truth pressed a button on his gravity throne, and a basic hologram of the surrounding continent appeared.

"We have crashed on this unknown planet. It is your doing, and you rightly bear the blame. As we see it, you and your squadmates shall be the ones who will be sent out first to learn about this new world. Whatever horrors you face, whatever you encounter, you will deal with and report to us. You may thank Mercy for sparing you from the Council, I can assure you they would be more condemning."

"Thank you… holy prophets." N'thiko 'Sattinee said.

"Your ship is waiting in the nearby hanger bay. Leave at once before we reconsider."

N'thiko 'Sattinee and his 2 Unggoy stood up and left the room, the 2 Unggoy hurrying along with their waddle out of fear of further punishment."

N'thiko 'Sattinee felt a mix of both anger and regret as he walked down the hall. He was angry at the 2 Unggoy for their failure, but also regretful of allowing it to happen. He would ensure they faced their proper blame.

After several minutes of walking to the armory, re equipping himself and further walking, he entered one of the Hanger Bays. It was a mess like many other areas of High Charity, as many crates and vehicles had been thrown around as if they were mere toys. A single banged up Phantom hovered in the center, with an Unggoy Major and a Kig-Yar Sniper underneath, who appeared to be arguing, as well as his 2 Unggoy Minors from earlier.

N'thiko 'Sattinee walked up, wearing his new white ultra armor, and all of them stood to attention.

He pointed to the Unggoy Major and the Kig-yar Sniper.

"What are your titles"

"Major Wulum your excellency" the Unggoy spoke, clearly nervous.

"Sniper Jik reporting" the Kig-yar screeched

"Get in the Phantom" he said angrily "we have tasks to do".

All of them did as ordered, followed by himself.

Today had been a terrible day for Wulum. His CO and other squadmates had been killed when High Charity crashed, with the only surviving one being Jik the Kig-yar, but he couldn't care any less about him. Jik was always cruel towards him and other Unggoy, viewing them as annoying, invasive idiots.

Wulum sat down on the floor of the Phantom near the other 2 Unggoy as it took off. He figured he might as well get to know his new squadmates.

"Um… hi?" He started

"Hi!" One said back

"Erm… what's your name?"

"Zapaw, and thats Tilm, What's yours?"

"Wulum"

"So… how you end up here?"

"Unlucky enough to be the only one available for assignment, but lucky enough to survive my squads death."

"Oh… what happened to them?"

"They didn't survive the crash. Except Jik over there, but he's a jerk!"

"I heard that gas sucker!" Jik screeched

There was an awkward pause in the conversation.

"What do you think is out in this world?"

"I don't know, probably something big and scary with sharp teeth" Tilm said

"Speaking of big scary things, your lucky you weren't on the holy ring!"

Tilm and Yapaw looked intrigued.

"You lying!" Tilm accused"

"No! Really! We got recalled when we found the Flood thingys!"

Tilm and Yapaw rubbed their chins under the gas masks.

"Did you see the demon?"

"No, and he's lucky! I would have kicked his ass!"

Tilm and Yapaw laughed

"Really? I don't believe that, hes killed hundreds of Unggoy!" Yapaw protested

"Yeah, but I'm smarter!"

"How so?"

"I can speak 3 different human languages, and Im trained in hand to hand combat!"

"So you were gonna out fight the demon with words and your fists?"

"No, with my gun!" He said laughing

There was another pause

"So… Ive been wondering… how are we gonna breathe here? Our methane tanks will need refilled." Zapaw asked

"We bought a few reserve tanks until we figure that out, it should be enough for a few days" Wulum said, gesturing to a few canisters which had a transparent midsection, displaying the blue-green gas that was vital to them.

"Oh, okay!" Yapaw said, before the one of the Phantoms pilots stepped out of the cockpit door.

"We are nearing our destination, prepare for deployment.

Wulum checked his gas meter, he had a nearly full tank, which would last him a good day or so. He then checked his plasma pistol, which had an 88% charge, before holstering it.

Jik walked over, retrieving his Type-50 Beam Rifle from his back and activating his optic sniping eyepiece, which glowed a bright purple.

"You gas suckers ready? I bet you'll run for the hills at the first sign of trouble!" He bullied.

"Shut up Jik! Unggoy are good fighters too!"

Jik laughed

"We'll see about that"

The phantoms bottom hatch opened and they all jumped down, into a dark forest. It was late at night, likely around 12:30 or so.

"There is a settlement to the north. Good luck" the Pilot said through the comms before the Phantom flew away.

N'thiko 'Sattinee examined his surroundings through his helmet.

"You heard the order, head north" he ordered to his troops.


	4. Chapter 4: Deployment

Chapter 4: Deployment

The squad walked on through the forest.

Wulum was enjoying the time away from his labor duties in High Charity. This planet was relatively warm, unlike his icey bitter homeworld.

As they walked on, he took in the surroundings.

The various plants they saw were similar to some that he'd seen on human worlds, such as ferns, bushes and vines. However this forest had a… strange feeling. As if something… felt off. Wulum couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt like he was being watched.

Suddenly the deep voice of N'thiko 'Sattinee got his attention.

"Make haste. I do not want to be here when a predator arrives."

Wulum looked to his new commander

"You feel it too?"

"Feel what Unggoy?" N'thiko 'Sattinee replied

"Like… somethings looking at us?"

"Something is looking at us. We are being followed."

"How do you know?"

"I can see it on my motion detector."

There was a growling sound and the group stopped.

Wulum and the other Unggoy huddles together, and Jik crouched down ready to fire his beam rifle.

N'thiko 'Sattinee turned

"A fight it is then. He said, raising his plasma rifle.

There was a roar and suddenly a large lion-like beast lept from the shadows. It was yellow-ish, woth a red mane, scorpion-like tail, and it had bat wings on its back.

The Manticore nearly landed on N'thiko when he rolled out of the way, the Manticore roaring in frustration.

Jik lept up out of the way as well, leaving the 3 Unggoy nearby.

The Manticore whacked the Unggoy aside with a swipe if its paw, sending several of the methane canisters flyign across the forest floor, before slashing Tilm with its claw. Tilm screamed in agony, before crawling away.

Wulum and Yapaw both fired their plasma pistols erratically at the Manticore, but this merely angered the beast.

There was an explosion as Jik shot one of the methane canisters as the Manticores feet, setting of a chain reaction with 2 more. The Manticore reared in its hind legs, its front legs severely injured, before N'thiko 'Sattinee lept from a tree onto its back, before climbing up to its neck, and activating his wrist energy daggers. He plunged them into the beasts head, and it fell to the ground, letting out a final groan before dying.

N'thiko 'Sattinee leapt down from the dead beast's head.

"No match for an elite, vermin!"

He looked over his troops.

There was a trail of bright blue bioluminescent blood that led up to a tree, where he found Tilm being tended to by the other Unggoy.

"What is your condition?"

Tilm coughed and wheezed, moving his arms to reveal that he had a series of deep gashes from the Manticores claws, exposing several organs. He was bleeding bad, and likely wasn't going to make it.

"I'm… scared" he said, beginning to breathe more panicked. "I-I wanna go… h-home…" he said, before coughing again.

"Tilm… don't die!" Yapaw exclaimed

Tilm reached out to his friend, touching his shoulder with his small stubby fingers before going limb.

Yapaw began to cry and closed his dead friends eyes.

"Good riddance." Jik said

Wulum and Yapaw glared daggers at Jik, before Jik bent down and picked up Tilm's plasma pistol.

"This will do fine as a secondary" he said, before attaching it to his hip.

Wulum punched Jik in the stomach, who hissed back at him.

"Enough!" N'thiko 'Sattinee said, shoving them aside. "He died as a warrior, that is all that matters" He said "now we must move, before more arrive"

Wulum detached the shell of Tilm's methane tank and pulled out the gas module

"We'll need this. We lost 3 of our 5 canisters"

Yapaw nodded and hugged him Tilm's body before saying "Walk the path" and moving on.

The group had been walking for several hours now, and sunrise had just occurred. Wulum stopped and examined Tilm's methane module. It was only 40% full, which means he had less than a day left. This means that they had 3 days of methane left, then they'd have to locate a new supply.

Wulum hitched it to his waist and walked on all fours to catch up the group.

"Sorry about Tilm…"

"I'll miss him. We've worked together for years."

"I know what it's like. My old squad died today."

The brush began to grow less dense, and they neared the edge of the forest.

"Jik, I need a reading." N'thiko 'Sattinee said

Jik nodded and climbed up a tree, looking through his scope at Ponyville in the short distance.

"Small town… primitive buildings…" he said

"Good for plunder…" he muttered to himself.

Jik zoomed in further with his rifle.

"See horse creatures…" he continued

"Any humans sighted?" N'thiko asked

"No… horses look strange. Colorful, seem to be only inhabitants…"

N'thiko thought for a moment.

"We must investigate the village further. Unggoy, I want you to investigate the village."

"Alone?!" Wulum exclaimed

"No. You two will investigate while Jik will watch from the rooftops, trees and other areas of cover."

"What if they attack?"

"Fight back." N'thiko simply replied "you have your weapons."

"What? Against all of then?" Zapaw asked

Jik interrupted

"Yes, I will kill all of them if they attack."

"Yeah! Me too!" Wulum said

"Yes I may kill the Unggoy in the confusion as well".

"Jik, take this" N'thiko said, giving him a small blue and purple device. "It's a small active camouflage module. It can conceal you 5 times for 40 seconds each. Use it wisely to move large distances unseen."

"What if they are friendly?" Wulum asked

Stay there, Jik will monitor your interactions with them through these" he said, giving the Unggoy 2 small listening devices which they hid under their armor. We need to learn about them. Provide minimal information on us. Do not mention us if possible. Let none know of my presence. Once I view it is safe, I will join you."

"Okay boss…" Wulum said nervously, before beginning to walk towards Ponyville with Yapaw and Jik.

They exited the Everfree Forest and Wulum could feel the warm sun on his tough hard skin.

"What you think they'll be like?" Yapaw asked

"Dunno." Wulum replied.

"They'll probably kill you and eat your carcasses." Jik said

Wulum and Yapaw shuttered at the thought.

"Why?!"

"Because no one likes you. Your annoying. Jik replied "besides even if they don't, they'll still probably kill you anyways."

"Hey!" Yapaw said "if they kill us they gonna kill you too!"

"Not if they can't see me." Jik said, activating his camo and performing one of the Kig-yars famous running leaps, landing on a rooftop and leaping from house to house, before settling into a tree near the center of town.

"Show off…" Wulum grumbled, as they neared town…


	5. Chapter 5: Newcomers

Chapter 5: Newcomers

Spike and Twilight sat in the dining hall eating breakfast when they were interrupted by the sound of commotion outside. There was a rapid knocking at the door. Twilight and Spike hurried to the door to find Rainbow Dash there.

"What's wrong Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked

"Theres… theres these two… Twilight, it'd be better if you saw for yourself."

Dash walked away from the door

"Come On!" She said

Twilight and Spike followed Dash down the stairs and into town square.

The town square was almost completely vacant, most ponies had headed inside and locked their doors and windows.

"So everyone went inside? Big de-"

Dash suddenly turned Twilights head to face to 2 mysterious creatures that had walked into town.

They appeared to almost be a mix of monkeys with a grey-blue crab-like exoskeletal skin, and they wore some type of garment on their chests, and had a large triangular ampendage on their back. One's clothes were a bright orange, and the others a bright red. They also appeared to have some type of device on their face, covering where Twilight assumed their mouths would be.

"Oh…" she finished.

Dash whisked her and Spike away to behind a building

"What do we do?!" Dash asked

"Um… maybe just be nice and treat then like anypony else who comes to town?"

"They look… weird!"

"Zecora looked weird to you too, your point?"

Dash rubbed the back of her head

"Eh, I guess you right. If you really wanna welcome these new… things to tow-"

Suddenly Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere

"New ponies in town?!" She shouted before Dash shoved her hoof in her mouth to shut her up.

"Okay, the 4 of us are going to go up there and greet them." Twilight said

"Uh, no. You 3 can go. Im staying here!" Dash said

"Are you… afraid?" Twilight asked

"No… why would you get that idea? Tha-thats crazy!" She stammered

"Then come along then…"

"Ugh, fine!" Dash groaned

Wulum and Zapaw entered the town, only the the horse-creatures to head inside in a panic as they approched.

"Huh, some welcoming eh?" Wulum said, as he walked the lifeless streets.

Several minutes of them walking silently passed before they heard the sound of voices.

"Wait wait… you hear that?"

"What? The wind?" Zapaw asked

"No you nut! The voices!"

"No… oh yeah, heh..."

Behind a corner a purple unicorn peeped its head out at them, waving before stepping out along with a small purple and green reptile and a pink pony with messy hair.

"This town keeps getting weirder." Zapaw said

The group began to walk towards them, except the pink one who was bouncing as she walked. They came to a stop in front of them.

Wulum and Zapaw kept their hands on their holstered Plasma Pistols, ready to draw them if needed.

"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and I welcome you to Ponyville. What's your name?"

The 2 stood there silently.

"Hello? Can you understand me?" Twilight asked

They nodded before Wulum relaxed a bit.

"Um… greetings! Im Wulum, and this is Zapaw."

"A pleasure to meet your acquaintance" Twilight said

"Uh, yeah. Same to you…" Wulum said, awkwardly pausing

Pinkie Pie bounced forwards

"HI! I know I've never seen you around before because I know everypony!" She blabbered

Wulum and Zapaw both cringed and backed up a few steps.

"She okay?" Zapaw asked

"She fine, she's just excited" Twilight said. "This is my assistant Spike, thats Pinkie Pie and this is Rainbow Dash."

"Oh… okay…"

"Are you two alright? You seem troubled."

"We're just kinda nervous. This place is strange…"

"How? What's it like where you come from? Where do you come from anyways?" Twilight asked

The Unggoy looked at each other for a moment

"I'm sorry" Twilight chuckled "I know I'm asking a lot of questions. It's just I've never seen anything quite like you before! Would you come inside so I can get a better look at you and get to know you?"

Wulum and Zapaw glanced at each other again. Wulum was worried this could be a trap, but they seemed nice. Besides, they had no reason to harm them, right?

"Okay. You lead, we follow." He said

"Perfect. Dash, why don't you go tell Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy about our new friends?"

Dash nodded and flew off quickly.

The group started back for the Castle of Friendship, and ponies began to emerge from their hiding places and resume their day.

Dash flew off, feeling the wind on her face as she accelerated. Dash slowed the flapping of her wings and came to a stop outside of Fluttershy's cottage. She knocked on the door with her hoof and Fluttershy answered, with Angel Bunny tucked under her wing.

"Hi Rainbow Dash, What brings you by today?"

"Some weird creatures walked into Ponyville and Twi thought I should tell you. Maybe you'd know something about them."

"Oh! What do they look like?"

"They're about… this high" she said, raising her hoof above her head a small bit "look kinda like… crabs mixed with… monkeys I guess? And they walk on two legs."

"Ooh! I cant say Ive seen something like that before! I'll be over as soon as I can!"

Dash nodded and darted off to Sweet Appleacres to get Applejack.

Dash looked over the landscape of the farm as she neared. She could see that things were almost in place for this year's Sisterhooves Social. She couldn't wait to participate with Scootaloo again, even though she wasn't actually her sister.

Dash landed and knocked on the door.

The door opened and the smell of apples greeted Dash along with Applebloom, who was standing there.

"Hi Rainbow! What can ah do for yah?"

"Hi, can I speak to Applejack?"

"Sure!"

Applebloom called her older sister over

"Howdy."

"Twi told me to tell you about these weird creatures that came into town earlier, and said you should come over to see them."

Applejack looked over to the kitchen and rubbed her chin.

"Ah guess ah can. Granny, can yah handle the rest of the bakin' yourself?"

Granny Smith nodded

"Alright, ah'll be right over."

Dash nodded and took off for Carousel Boutique, Rarity's house.

Dash pushed open the door and the bell jingled to alert Rarity of a potential customer.

Rarity pranced around the corner

"Oh! Rainbow Dash, a pleasure to see you darling, what can I do for you?" She asked

"Well, it's more like what can you do for Twilight."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Well, these two weird creatures wandered into Ponyville and Twilight thought I should gather everyone at the Castle to meet them or something."

Rarity paused for a moment. She could finish the dress she was making later, she had a whole week to finish it before it was due for pickup.

"I don't see why not, are they friendly?"

Dash shrugged

"They seem like it, they do seem a bit shy though and uneasy. But I think you should be there if anything happens to help."

Rarity paused, continuing to think

"Alright darling, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Dash took off and headed back to the Castle of Friendship…

Inside the Castle of Friendship in its library, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie, Wulum and Zapaw all gathered around. Wulum and Zapaw sat on the floor, waiting to be interviewed.

"There are chairs over there if you want to sit down" Twilight offered.

The chairs didn't seem to be shaped right to offer room for their methane tanks, but the Unggoy didn't want to be rude, so they scooted the chairs over and sat in them as best as they could.

"So" Twilight said, sitting down at the table with a piece of parchment and a quill "lets begin. What should I ask you first?"

Wulum and Zapaw shrugged

"It don't matter." Zapaw simply stated.

Twilight nodded.

"So… I guess let's start with some information on your kind. I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly are you?"

"Its okay" Wulum said "were called Unggoy, but a lot of different people call is Grunts."

"Why Grunts? Sounds kinda like an insulting term."

"I dunno, maybe it's because we aren't that big." Wulum grumbled

"What do you mean? You seem to be a decent size to me." Twilight said smiling.

"No compared to other things. We're pretty small in comparison to other things."

Twilight nodded

"Can you tell me a bit about your culture and where you come from? You said this place was strange outside."

"Well, we come from an icey swampy planet called Balaho. It's cold and food is scarce there. On Balaho, we live in little tribal societies, but then Covenant come and we join them."

"Covenant?"

Wulum nodded

"It's a big group of other creatures, we all work together to start the Great Journey to become like gods!"

"Fascinating! So your aliens? As in, from beyond the stars?"

"Yep!"

"Wow!" Twilight beamed "that's amazing!"

"I guess. It's actually pretty dull."

"So how did you get here?"

Wulum shrugged, remembering he wasn't supposed to mention his new boss or their mission. He probably shouldn't have mentioned the Covenant.

The sound of the Castle door opening was heard down the hall and and shortly after Fluttershy walked into the library. Her jaw dropped upon seeing the two strange aliens. Rainbow's description was fitting, but rather vague. They looked kind of tough, and seemed to have barbed arms and legs, along with various plates of hard skin covering their body, and they had a strange device covering their faces.

Fluttershy covered her face with her hair, nervous about meeting the creatures.

"Its okay Fluttershy, they won't hurt you, right?"

The Unggoy nodded, and Fluttershy say down beside Twilight.

"So, continuing on, how did you get here?"

Wulum rubbed his head, thinking of an answer, before shrugging

"I don't know. We… just kinda woke up in that forest."

"You don't remember?" Twilight asked

"No, it's all… fuzzy."

"Oh. Do you want to take a break from the questions until the rest of my friends get here?"

"Um, sure. They're nice right?"

"Of course! They're the nicest ponies you'll ever meet!"

Several minutes passed, as Rainbow Dash, Rarity and lastly Applejack arrived and introduced themselves.

"Perfect, now that everyone is here, we can continue to interview." Twilight said

"So it really is true that your aliens from outer space?" Rainbow Dash asked

"I guess, yeah." Wulum replied.

Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof.

"What is history of your species like?"

"Oh…" Wulum rubbed his head "I wouldn't really know much about that."

"Oh, well… how about… hmm…" Twilight continued to think. "What about yours clothes? Why do you cover your faces and wear that triangle attachment?"

Rarity interjected

"Speaking of your clothes, I like your bright colors, but I feel like they need a bit of spicing up, if you'd like, I could give the 2 of you fine gentlecolts-er, gentle-aliens makeovers!"

"I don't know…" Wulum said

"I wouldn't charge you! Not one bit! Just to see if you'd like it! And for fashion inspiration!"

Wulum shook his head

"No thanks, we're good." Wulum said

Rarity looked mildly disappointed.

"What about your clothing though?" Twilight restated "it almost looks like some sort of hazard gear."

The Unggoy nodded

"Well, I suppose it's because it is… well, sort of. It lets us breathe!"

"Couldn't you just breathe regular air? Like… everypony else?" Dash asked, waving a hoof

They shook their heads

"Oxygen is bad! We can't breathe it, we need a different kind of gas." Wulum explained

Pinkie took in a deep breath, and her head inflated, and she began to rise off the ground, as if she were a balloon.

"Like helium?" She asked in an even more high pitched voice

Wulum and Zapaw stared at her in total confusion for a moment as to how she was accomplishing this before answering with a simple "no".

Pinkie's head deflated, making sounds like a balloon letting off air before she landed on the ground again.

"So… what kind of gas is it?" Twilight asked

"We need methane to live, we store it in our packs! Actually, that's what's in these little canisters on our waists too!" Wulum said

Twilight stopped writing for a moment

"Methane? Isn't that highly explosive?!"

"Only if it burns, otherwise we fine." Wulum replied

Spike stepped back a few feet.

"So… Dragon fire would… make you explode?" He asked

The Unggoy looked at each other

"Probably…"

Twilight scribbled this down on the parchment with her quill.

"This is all very fascinating information! So what do you eat?"

"Mostly whatever we can, plants or meat. But mostly we eat from food nipple."

The Mane 6 all shared looks of confusion, with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie giggling.

"Girls! Be mature!" Twilight scolded "now, what were you saying, what about these… food nipples?" She asked, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

"I don't get what's so funny, but its like a hose with a thing on the end you bite on, and you suck food out of it!" Wulum said

"Sounds like a straw almost, interesting. I'll just write down omnivorous. So can you eat any other way?"

Wulum nodded

"If we take our mask off we can eat and put it back on between bites."

Spike coughed and placed a hand to his stomach.

"He okay?" Zapaw asked

Spike's cheeks bulged suddenly and he burped out green fire, which materialized into a letter.

"Ew! Gross!" Wulum and Zapaw both said in unison.

"Don't worry, it's just a letter from the Princess." Twilight said, lifting the letter over to her with her magic.

"Princess? Aren't you the Princess?"

Twilight chuckled

"One of them, we have 4, and we all have our duties. Im

The Princess of Friendship, my sister-in-law Princess Cadance is the Princess of Love, and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who are both my aunt-in-law, and control the Sun and Moon respectively."

"Those all seem like strange roles. What about military command and religion and stuff?" Wulum asked

"Well, Equestria isn't organized like that." Twilight explained "The closest thing we have to an army is the Royal Guard, but further protection isn't really needed, we haven't been to war in thousands of years."

"Oh. But why do you need Princesses for your sun and moon?"

"Well, someone has to raise the sun in the morning and the moon at night!" She said "who does it for you?"

Wulum and Zapaw scratched their heads with their stubby fingers before shrugging.

"I don't know. They just… do it themselves."

"A Heliocentric system? But that's only theoroetical!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Nah, it pretty normal" Zapaw said in the typical broken english many Unggoy spoke in.

"Really? This is an interesting discovery!" She said, growing more excited before Spike came over and shook her, calming her down and reminding her of the letter.

"Sorry" she laughed "I really love learning about new things"

"It okay" Zapaw said.

she unwrapped the letter and read it.

"Dearest Princess Twilight,

The large earthquake you mentioned in Ponyville was felt here at Canterlot, and throughout Equestria as well. Settlements along the west coast of Equestria felt it the most, and cities such as Van Hoover, Las Pegasus and Applewood felt it the worst. Reports of damage from shattered windows and building collapses were reported, and the sea level apparently rose. A few ponies perished, but most survived. Luna and I have dispatched various research teams throughout Equestria to try and locate the origin and cause of this event.

Your friend,

Princess Celestia"

Twilight let go in shock and the letter fell onto the nearby table. The Unggoy looked around the room, and everyone else shared expressions of shock. Wulum and Zapaw both cringed under their masks, knowing that this was undoubtedly caused by High Charity's crash landing.

The clock in the room rang, causing the 2 Unggoy to jump in alarm and snapping everyone back to their senses.

"Oh, it's dinner time!" Twilight said, looking out the window at the setting sun.

"Where we go?" Yapaw asked Wulum

"Don't know. It probably cold outside. I hate cold." Wulum replied.

"You can stay here, with us! We have a guest room that I'm sure you will be quite comfortable in." Twilight offered.

"Thank you." Wulum said as they walked downstairs.

Jik listened carefully through the communication system the Unggoy were wearing as he sat perched hidden in a tree, watching over the town through the scope of his beam rifle and recording the audio with an audio log. Jik climbed higher up in the tree, and entered a prone position on a cluster of branches. Jik grew bored of his task, he was an assassin, not some data logger. That was a task for Unggoy, as worthless as they were in his eyes.

He heard a chattering noise to his left, and hid head sharply turned to face the source.

A small squirrel sat nearby on a tree branch with an acorn in its grasp. Jik stared at it for a moment before grabbing it in his claw and snapping the poor creatures neck within seconds.

"Fine meal for later…" he hissed, returning to his sniper scope. The squirrel wouldn't have much meat, but he would be able to get by on it until he found better prey.

Jik wished he could be facing some action. This waste of time was only bearable because he was getting paid for it.

He hoped for action soon…


	6. Chapter 6: A Strange Dinner

Chapter 6: A Strange Dinner

Chapter Note: Unggoy do sometimes speak in broken english, usually among each others company.

"So, what would be a good thing for you to eat?" Twilight asked Wulum and Zapaw.

"Well, it's been long time since we had real food" Zapaw replied

"So, should I just make some daisy sandwiches, or hayburgers? Or maybe just some vegetables?

"I guess some… vegetables? You have anything that has meats in it?" Zapaw asked

"Umm… sorry no, us ponies eat an entirely vegetarian diet. But you said you're omnivorous, so you can eat plants too, right?" She asked

They nodded

"Okay, so I'll just fix up a salad for you two, I'll make some daisy sandwiches for the rest of us."

Wulum and Zapaw walked into the dining room and sat down with the others.

"So…" Wulum said, as he stared around the room awkwardly "any more questions you want to ask us?"

"What do you like to do for fun?" Pinkie asked "what's your favorite flavor of cake? What's your favorite color? Ooh! Whens your birthday!" She continued to fire off questions

"Um…"

"Let's just start with somethin' a lil easier. What sorta activities do yah enjoy?" Applejack asked

"Well, Hunting Rock is pretty fun." Zapaw said

"Hunting Rock?" Rainbow Dash asked puzzled

"Yeah! Hunting Rock!"

"What the hay is a huntin' rock?" Applejack asked

"It's a game" Wulum explained "you play it by throwing a rock at a thing like a scrub grub to squish them! Whoever gets the most wins!"

"Now what in Equestria is a scrub grub?" Dash asked

"It's… like a little bug thingy! Its all fuzzy and likes to chew on power cables and stuff, they are a common pest from our home. "

"Y-you throw rocks at living things for fun?!" Fluttershy asked, obviously upset by the Unggoy's idea of entertainment.

"Yeah, why?" Wulum asked

Fluttershy had a few tears form in her eyes but she looked away and didn't say anything else.

"What? Was it something I said?!" Wulum exclaimed

"Fluttershy is a sensitive pony who has a special place in her heart for lil critters." Applejack said, patting her friends back.

Fluttershy sniffled

"But… how could you do that a living creature? That's so mean!"

"They pests! They chew cables!" Zapaw exclaimed

"But you don't have to kill them!"

"Why? Its easiest way to get rid of them!"

"But… thats… thats mean!"

"Ah understand where you're comin' from sugarcube" Applejack said to Fluttershy "but Ah'm sure they can't get rid of em' any other way!"

"Come on Fluttershy, their just bugs!" Dash said.

Fluttershy took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

There was an awkward pause in conversation

"We play other games to-"

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about then right now" Twilight said

"Soooooo" Pinkie said "What's your favorite cake flavor?"

Wulum scratched his head. He remembered reading about cake in a human book he once bought off the Covenant black market.

"I don't know. Never had it." He said

"Um… am I only one who doesn't know what cake is?" Zapaw asked

Wulum leaned over and whispered into his ear that it was a human dessert.

"Oh. Nah."

"Whaddya mean you've never had cake?!" Pinkie shouted, unable to comprehend this seemingly "outrageous" statement.

"I don't know. I don't get food like that." Wulum said

"Then I'll have to make one every kind for you to try!" Pinkie said, pulling a pencil and notebook from seemingly nowhere and begging to write down every kind of cake she could think of.

"What about quesadilla?" Pinkie asked

"What?" Wulum asked

"What about a cupcake? Ooh I love cupcakes!"

"Um… no." He replied

"What about a pie?"

"No!

"Muffins?"

"No! We haven't had any of these things!" Wulum exclaimed

"You'll have to excuse her dear, she gets excited easily" Rarity said

"Yeah, I can tell" Wulum grumbled

The door opened and Twilight walked in with Spike, carrying dinner on plates.

"Dinner is served everypony!" Twilight said, placing the sandwiches in the center of the table and sitting down with Spike.

"So… I've been wondering…" Twilight began

"Yeah?" Wulum asked"

"What do you really look like under that mask?"

Wulum and Zapaw reached up to the sides of their masks and series of clicks were ehard as they unfastend them, with a small hiss of blue-green gas escaping ask they pulled them off, with a bit of saliva dripping from the mask, revealing their true face, which had no lips, and short sharp teeth.

They all had different reactions to their face.

Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike all gazed intently, taking in the details of their strange face, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both looked mildly perplexed.

"EW!" Rarity said, quickly looking away "that's disgusting!"

"Hey! What?" Wulum asked, looking at Rarity.

He could already taste the alien feeling of the oxygen in the air.

"Your mask… it's all…slimey! Thats gross!

"Well duh! It's been in my mouth for months! Probably years even!"

Rarity took another glance at the masks before making a "ugh" face turning away once more.

They placed their masks to their face and took a deep inhale again, before removing them and beginning to eat their dinner.

Wulum and Zapaw picked up bites of their salads with the forks Twilight gave them, which she typically kept for Spike. The Unggoy then placed it in the mouth and put their masks back on as they chewed and swallowed, and inhaled before taking them off again and repeating the cycle.

The rest of the table began to eat in awkward silence, as both sides observed the others seemingly foreign eating styles.

From what Wulum could tell, they ate in a similar fashion to humans, only except instead of using utensils they either levitated their food to them with magic or ate their food directly with their mouth up to the bowl.

Wulum cleared his throat

"Um, how you do that?" He asked, pointing at Twilights magical aura around her horn.

"Unicorn Magic" she explained "I can tell you a bit about it later.

They nodded and continue eating, finishing every last scrap of food.

"Good food! More?" Zapaw asked. It had been some of the finer food the Unggoy had eaten in a long time, as it had more flavor and a better texture than the nutrient paste of a food nipple.

"Um…" Twilight began "I gave you two all I had, I'm sorry, I thought it would be enough. Are you still terribly hungry?"

Wulum was still a little hungry, but he had eaten more than normal rations would allow, and he didn't want to be a problem.

"No, we okay, your food just really good." He said

"Alright, then, I'll clean up dinner, Spike, could you show them to the guest rooms?" Twilight asked

Spike nodded

"Right this way Gentlecolts-erm, gentle-aliens?" Spike said, trying to figure out the right terminology.

The Unggoy didn't care and simply followed along on their stubby legs in their waddle-like walk.

Spike led them upstairs and opened a door revealing a small room with 2 beds, a window, a dresser, a bookshelf and a rug on the floor, as well as a candle on the windowsill.

As the Unggoy expected, there were no methane tanks for them to be supplied by, but they stepped into the room.

Zapaw and Wulum set down the methane canisters they were carrying on the floor, but kept their plasma pistols holstered to their belts, ready if they needed them.

"Is that all you two got?" Spike asked, pointing to the gas canisters.

"Yep!" Wulum replied, truthfully, they didn't have much else other than a few personal belonging back on High Charity.

Spike was surprised, usually when a pony (or any sentient creature for that matter) came to Ponyville, they usually had at least a suitcase of belongings.

"Alrighty then" he said "give me a shout if you need anything, I'll be downstairs" he said, closing the door.

Wulum sat down on the bed, and Zapaw sat down next to him.

"This is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into." Zapaw said

"Well, they seem nice, what's so bad about that?"

"What's so bad? Well, how about the fact that were alone on an alien planet in Prophets-know-where, with only 3 days worth of methane!" Zapaw said, before taking a deep breath to calm himself down

"Okay, now that you put it like that, I can see why you feel that way." Wulum replied,

"It all my fault that we here…" Zapaw said

"What? How? That not fair to you!" Wulum said

Zapaw sighed

"Before my deployment here, me and Tilm were engine room security. We were… part of the…accident that brought us here." He said glumly, feeling intense guilt.

Wulum placed his hand on his new friends shoulder

"Aw don't feel so bad! At least we're alive! We could have all blowed up, like boom!" He said, making an explosion gesture with arms.

"Gee, thanks…."

"No really, we lucky! It must have been our destiny to wind up here!"

"What?! That crazy!"

"Yeah… I know, just trying to help."

"Thanks anyway."

The 2 Unggoy continued to chat alone in their room...


	7. Chapter 7: Making Camp

Chapter 7: Making Camp

N'thiko 'Sattinee finished setting up the Covenant Comm Node that he had requested, along with with the Covenant ammunition crate, which contained 2 Covenant Carbines and cartridges for them, before leaning back against a tree.

N'thiko 'Sattinee reached up to his helmet and detached it, revealing his mandibled Sangheili face.

He looked down at it, looking through the glowing eye slits for a moment before he took in a deep breath of fresh air. It was chilly, as the fall wind blew through the air.

He sighed, this was not anywhere near as honorable as being on the front lines. He should be guarding the engine room of High Charity, or be on the front lines fighting against those blasphemous humans.

He closed his eyes for a moment and placed his helmet back on, and walked over to the Comm Node.

He reached to the control panel and began to input the frequency of Jik's comm system.

"Who this?!" The Kig-Yar sniper screeched

"This is your commander N'thiko 'Sattinee."

"Oh… what do you want?"

"I want you to transmit the recorded data logs recorded by the Unggoy to me for investigation."

"As you wish…" Jik said, grumbling to himself in Kig-yar

After a few seconds there was a beep from the Comm node, notifying N'thiko that a transmission was being received.

N'thiko retrieved an audio download device from his back, and hooked it up to the machine for transfer.

He sat down again and waited for the download to finish…

Twilight finished placing the last dish in the sink and headed upstairs. She wanted to check on her guests to see how they were.

Twilight was very excited to ask them some more questions, or maybe to answer theirs in return. Either way, it would be beneficial.

Twilight came to a stop in front of the guest room and knocked on the door with her hoof.

There was sound of the Unggoy chattering to each other came go a stop and the door opened.

"Hi, how's everything going?"

"Pretty good!" Wulum said

"Glad to hear. So, I wanted to give you a chance to ask me some questions, if you have any that is."

"Okay!"

The Unggoy sat back on the foot of the bed and tried to get as comfortable as he could.

Wulum rubbed his head as he thought what question he should ask first. He had a lot, but decided to start with the biggest one.

"What's all that Unicorn magicy stuff you were talking about earlier?" Wulum asked

"Well, every species of Pony is magical here in Equestria. There are 3 main types of ponies, Earth, Unicorn and Pegasus. Earth Ponies like Applejack have a special connection with the dirt, and are really good at farming! Pegasi like Rainbow Dash have wings, and are able to fly, walk on clouds and interact with the weather! Lastly, there are the Unicorns. I used to be a Unicorn myself before I became a princess, but Unicorns are the only Ponies who are able to actively perform magic.

"But… you have wings too?" Wulum asked

"Well, I said there are 3 main types of ponies, but there is a 4th rare type called Alicorns, who have both Wings and a Horn. To become an Alicorn, one typically had to accomplish some magnificent act of magic! There are only 5 Alicorns in all of Equestria, those being Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, my niece Flurry Heart and my self, who am also a Princess, as I said before.

"Right, makes sense" Zapaw said.

"Do you want to ask me anything else?" Twilight said

"Some other time, we pretty sleepy" Wulum said

"Alright, anything I can do? Do you need extra blankets? Water?"

"No. Thank you for letting us stay"

"Well that's what friends do."

"We your friend?" Zapaw asked

"Of course! Everypony who's friendly is my friend."

They nodded and Twilight stepped out and closed the door.

Zapaw and Wulum looked at the gas gauges on their wrists.

"Im good, how about you?" Wulum asked.

"Critically low, can you help me change it?" Zapaw asked

"Sure sure…" he said, turning his comrade around and beginning to unfasten his backpack's lightly armored outer shell.

A few clicks later and the shell slipped of, a small of methane gas hissing.

Wulum reached to his waist and grabbed Tilm's old Gas module from his backpack. He twisted some valves and Zapaw's slid out, leaking a small bit of Methane Gas before he closed its valve and replaced it with Tilms.

Wulum picked up the backpack's shell and placed it back on Zapaw's back, fastening it into place.

"Thanks!"

Wulum sat back down on the bed, and pulled one of their spare gas canisters from his waist and hooked it up to a hose that had come from Tilm's tank.

"What you doing? I thought you said you were good?" Zapaw asked

"I am. One of my old squadmates taught me how to do this." He replied, hooking the other end if the hose to Zapaw's old gas module and twisting it.

"Since we don't have a gas tank to refill our tanks directly, we can refill our modules and swap them when they empty! It will make it a lot easier. Long as we don't run out at same time, we're fine"

"Wulum, your a genius!" Zapaw exclaimed, sitting down in bed and beginning to curl up in the typical Unggoy sleeping position:

"Thanks!" He said, finishing connecting the tube to the module and and canister, starting the refill process.

Wulum yawned and placed his work on the nearby table, before curling up in bed and embracing sleep with open arms.

"Ahhh…" he sighed…

Back in the wreckage of High Charity,many Covenant were in a state of unrest. Various riots had broken out throughout the city and were being dealt with by Covenant military forces. From within their private quarters, Truth and Mercy prepared for a propaganda speech to discuss the new world they had landed in. Reports from their scouting party had recently come in, and the Hierarchs Truth and Mercy remained in their private quarters alone to personally examining the reports.

"This unfortunate turn of events has complicated our plan to cast out the Sangheili" Truth said to Mercy "every day I fear they come closer to the discovery of our deception."

Mercy nodded

"If they discover the truth, our rule and the Covenant will be finished."

"Precisely why I chose my name brother. To remind myself of the truth I must never speak of." Truth replied

"What do you make of this… world? He asked Mercy, curious on his brothers opinion of this strange planet.

"It seems almost mystical, like the lands the Forerunner supposedly promised us on our Great Journey!" Mercy replied

"You believe this is the promised salvation if the Great Journey?" Truth questioned

"Perhaps…" Mercy began "it is possible Regret activated the Holy Ring he discovered and… caused our ascension to godhood without our knowledge?"

"It is possible."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance in this discussion?" The voice of the Oracle 343 Guilty Spark chimed in.

"Perhaps… Oracle, what is our location? Is Salvation?The promised lands for all who walk the paths of your creators?"

"Im sorry medler, but I am afraid I am uncertain what promised lands you speak of. This location seems to be outside of all my star charts entirely, almost as if we have torn through the very fabric of space in an extreme fashion, almost similar to the methods my creators once used. And The Holy Rings? Oracle? I do not understand why you members insist on using such inaccurate transla-"

"That is all we need Oracle." Truth spoke up

Spark paused

"As you wish medler…"

"If we are in a location that a creation of the gods does not know, then we must be in a personal haven created by the gods personally for us, to reward us for our faith and devotion."

"What do we do Truth?" Mercy asked

Truth hovered away from the Oracle in its restraining field and over to the display screen which showed several photos that had been taken of the land.

"Our Covenant is rioting, and we know what can repair it. We do what we always do, and we will preach that this is our final test to claim this as our paradise. This will recover the faith of those in question, even the Sangheili. We will with or without the help of this planet's inhabitants ascend to our place as gods, like The Holy Ones before us." Truth said, smiling evilly

.

In his camp within the Everfree Forest N'thiko 'Sattinee prepared to settle in for the night. He sat against a tree with his helmet off, with a ration case in his hands. Slipping the case off, he examined the food within. Inside the pack were slices of colo meat; a cow-like creature commonly traded throughout the Covenant, and Irukan grain, along with a canteen of water. Taking a piece of colo meat in his hand, he placed it into his mandibles which quickily tore it apart and moved t back to his throat and swallowing. The meat was dried so as to be able to be stored longer, but satisfied his hunger. He placed a few more pieces into his mouth before taking a drink of his water and sealing the ration package and placing it on his hip's utility belt. Placing his helmet back on, he climbed up into a tree and placed down a set of cot-like sheets, where he laid down and closed his eyes.


End file.
